I intend to get goggles and headtracker eventually, but not just yet.

Right now I have a turnigy 9X with er9x firmware, exuhf with 8ch diversity rx.

first question, Can I control the camera? without a head tracker to plug into the EZUHF directly, is there an alternative option to use some knobs or something?

and if I can... or cant... what channels should it use? even if its only functional when I add a head tracker, it needs to be wired up before I close up the plane.

right now I have ch 1-4 doing normal stuff,
Im thinking ch 5 as an aux for OSD?
ch 6-7 for camera (or should this be 5-6 and OSD on 7?)
ch 8 is plugged into the BEC for power.

am I on the right track? Should I just plug the BEC red/black into the throttle channel to free up ch 8 for... whatever? separate aileron channels perhaps?

bump

Im thinking I splice the grounds,use the BEC for the power, and keep the ESC signal.

Still not sure how headtracking or RSSi or whatever else I should be considering.

You're on the right track, however I would keep ailerons on one channel. You're going to run out of channels pretty quickly.

My setup is:
Ch1-4: plane controls
Ch5: OSD control
Ch6: RSSI
Ch7-8: pan/tilt

I also have EZUHF which allows me to send all channels via PPM from receiver to RVOSD via a single servo cable.

It really does not matter how you get the power to the receiver as long as you only use one source. Eg, either from external BEC or from your ESC. (but not both)

hmmm I have EZUHF, and RVOSD is the intended unit. So they will play nice together? Lol could probably save a an ounce or 2 just in servo cables that would eliminate!

You'll save three servo cables if you go that route. For me it was more the cable clutter than the weight that made me do it like that.
Yes, so far they both work great together.